Grace Mugabe challenges fine of five cows and two goats for improper burial of her husband

The widow of former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has challenged a fine of five cows and two goats over the alleged improper burial of her husband.

Grace Mugabe is also seeking to overturn an order, issued in May, to dig up her husband’s body and rebury it at a national heroes’ shrine in the capital Harare.Chief Zvimba issued a ruling in May that found the late leader’s wife guilty of breaking local custom with the burial. He fined her five cows and two goats during a hearing held in her absence and ordered the exhumation of Mugabe’s body.

As a response, Mugabe’s children appealed against the decision. However, it was upheld by a magistrate last month, prompting Ms Mugabe to make a fresh appeal to the High Court.

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Mugabe, who ruled the southern African nation for nearly four decades since independence from Britain in 1980, was forced to resign in November 2017 after an army coup.

His successor Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was once his trusted deputy, became embroiled in a weeks-long dispute with Ms Mugabe over his final resting place. President Mnangagwa had wanted Mugabe to be interred at the National Heroes Acre burial ground.

However, his family refused, claiming the former leader had expressed fears before his death that some of the people who ousted him would seek to conduct a traditional ritual with some of his body parts.

He was, therefore, buried in the courtyard of his home in the village of Kutama, 55 miles west of Harare.

Once hailed as a model African democrat, Mugabe had clung to power for years despite a worsening political and economic crisis that critics blame on his policies.

Mugabe, who held power since independence from British colonial rule in 1980, presided over Zimbabwe's decline from a regional power with huge potential, to a ruined country from which millions fled.

Many hoped his fall would mark a new era for the country and a re-birth of its economy.

Mnangagwa, who secured his hold on power by winning disputed elections in July 2018, had pledged to revive the economy, attract foreign investment, and create jobs.